These days it seems all Android phone makers are in a competition to find out who can make the most useless UI (User Interface) and load the most crapware out of the box. Various cloud services including Google themselves are dishing out money to OEMs to make sure their services come preloaded which would hopefully force the phone buyer to become the cloud service’s customer.

Removing the UI or the bloatware often involves using the ADB command line interface which most normal phone users don’t even know exists. Then there is the fact that most phone makers keep dishing out phones without ever bothering to create security patches for them. Even the most high end phone makers like Samsung take their sweet time to push updates.

And then Google made Android One

Android One is supposed to be a solution to all these problems. It is what Android ought to be, a pure unadulterated Android experience without all those fancy bells and whistles that OEMs like to shove on us. To quote Google, Android One is smart, secure and simply amazing.

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The Xiaomi Mi A2 is the flag bearer of Android One at the moment and it offers a value for money experience that is going to be hard to beat for some time.

It is powered by the beefy Snapdragon 660 which means a breezy user experience especially on a platform that’s made the way Mamma Google envisioned it

20MP+12MP dual rear cameras for all those fancy photo and video shoots

A 20MP AI front camera ready to fix all your horrendous photo and video skills on the fly

IR Blaster for all those IR apps including DSTV- seriously the last one means you will always win the remote wars every Saturday afternoon

The device comes in 4GB/32GB, 4GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB RAM/ROM pairings

It is currently available in 3 colours: Gold, Lake Blue and Black

It’s made out of metal no cheap plastic here

Android Pay which you can use to look cool at those fancy malls whenever you go abroad. Ecocash’s tap to pay thingy never took off so it’s USSD here in Zimbabwe till kingdom come.

The Lite Experience

There is also a slightly cheaper and not by much less awesome Lite version that removes the Snapdragon 660 and replaces it with the less powerful but power efficient Snapdragon 625. The rear cameras also become a 12MP pair.

This version also comes with an SD card slot that can take SD cards with up to 256GB storage. The Mi A2 has no SD card slot. The Mi A2 Lite is actually the Redmi 6 Pro with Android One

Again why Android One

Fast security patches with updates at the very least once a month from Google

No bloatware

Standard stock Android UI

Fast user exeprience

Guaranteed updates to future versions of Android. You can install Android P on the previous version of this phone right now when everyone is boasting about Android 8.1 being the thing

What if you wanted MIUI

The Redmi 6x comes in sexy red

Bloatware or not MIUI the custom skin on Xiaomi’s phones offers a pleasant experience and enhancements that should never be sneezed at. Here is a little secret about the Mi A2, it is just the Redmi 6X which comes with Android One! Yes every feature of it down to wireless charging means the only difference between them is the ROM.

Where to buy the Redmi 6X

The Ecocash Offer

To buy these phones you can click on the links above to be taken to the relevant online stores. You can then complete the payment using either a MasterCard/Visa Card that can make international payments. I would recommend linking these cards to PayPal for your own protection it’s free and makes your online shopping safer.

Now if you cannot make the payment on your own. I the saint can make the payment on your behalf and you can compensate me using Ecocash/ZIPIT. This offer is limited to the Mi A2 4GB/64GB and the Redmi 6X versions for logistical and funds reasons. When this offer expires I will update this article to reflect this. To take advantage of this offer please follow the steps below:

Get in touch with me via WhatsApp on my number 0772 473 953 ( I detest WhatsApp calls) if you want to call don’t use WhatsApp but the number. You can also email me on my gmail address my handle is garikaib

After I have given you the go ahead send $405 for the Mi A2 or $442 for the Redmi 6X

Send me your actual legal name, address and the phone number on which you will be notified by Zimpost once the parcel arrives

I will make the purchase and the parcel will be send to you

Once the item is shipped I will send you the tracking number

Easy as ABC

Again I would strongly recommend the 4GB/64GB version to which you can just add an SD card and I am putting my money where my mouth is by this offer.

Strangely it seems so yeah. That was weird to me too. I make heavy use of Google’s services myself so things like photos and videos are regularly backed up so I can delete them, except the most used, from my phone.

What are the duty rates for cellphones these days. I last saw on your website that it was 25% but on the ZIMRA site its saying 40% can you assist me in truly finding out so as to make necessary plans in context to budgeting.